


lifetimes

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-13
Updated: 2012-08-14
Packaged: 2017-11-09 21:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/458338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some friendships are so strong, they can even transcend lifetimes.  Some romances, too.</p>
<p>Aang and Katara, multiple AUs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. water

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to think of [this song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beZdq0OpbP8) as the fic's soundtrack, kinda. enjoy!

"I need to ask you something. Please... come closer."

"What is it?"

She leaned in, heart beating faster for a reason she couldn't really identify. The boy in the iceberg gave a sleepy blink. Then a sudden, blazing grin.

"Would you ride a polar bear dog with me?"

It was, in retrospect, one of the strangest opening questions anyone had ever asked her. She arched an eyebrow, but a smile was already growing on her face to match his.

"Sure."

 

...

 

"I have a way with animals," he told her. It wasn't that she doubted him exactly, but still. "To find a polar bear dog, you've got to think like a polar bear dog."

"Okay," she said skeptically. "So... crawling on all fours and sniffing the ice is thinking like a polar bear dog how, again?"

"I'm trying to see which spot smells the fishiest. That's where they'd be hunting, right?"

She just shrugged in confusion. "I wouldn't know about that. You'd probably be able to see one before you'd smell one. They hunt from on top of the ice, not underneath it! If you're thinking turtle seals, that's the north pole."

"Oh." He picked himself off the snow with a small gust of wind, rubbing at his nose with a sheepish expression.

"Also, you'd probably get frostbite on your face if you kept that up for too long."

"I... I knew that. I was just checking to see if you did." She rolled her eyes and was about to open her mouth for a doubtful reply, but the boy held up one finger as if to quiet her. Then she noticed the hilariously awkward look on his face and realized he was probably about to sneeze again, like he'd done when they first met.

A few seconds passed.

He lowered his finger, looking embarrassed but breathing a sigh of relief. "False alarm."

"... Right." She paused for a moment, nearly forgetting what it was exactly she'd even came here to talk about. Whatever it was, it didn't have anything to do with polar bear dogs, that was for sure. "But anyway, that's not the point. The point is that I have a lot more questions for you now that I've talked to the rest of my tribe about letting you stay for the night."

The briefest expression of worry--panic, almost--crossed his face, and she hesitated. You noticed these things when you had the reflexes of a master waterbender.

"But if you answer them, I'll show you the secret to finding a polar bear dog."

"You've got a deal!" He gave a wide, beaming grin. It was almost as if the look of uneasiness hadn't even been there at all.

"Good. So, first of all," she took in a breath. Well, might as well get the elephant-hippo in the room over with from the start. "It's not that you're not welcome, but what exactly is an airbender like you doing here in the south pole? We're pretty far away from the Southern Air Temple. Almost nobody's even seen an Air Nomad around for a hundred years, not since--"

She stopped herself. He didn't look sad, just a little wary and thoughtful. And what was she trying to say, anyway? It wasn't as if the Southern Water Tribe had any problems with the Air Nomads. It was more like the Air Nomads having a problem with the entire world.

... If she thought about it further, she couldn't really blame them. The world had been at peace for the better part of a century now, but it was an uneasy one. Fire Lord Sozin had been a popular ruler. Not everyone in the nation was happy with the late Avatar Roku and how he decisively put an end to Sozin's dynasty. Even after his war plans had been disovered and his visions of wiping out the Air Nomads had come to light, there were still factions in the Fire Nation that embraced his dream. Rumors had it that Neo-Sozinists were even trying to restore his bloodline to the throne.

It was almost no wonder that the monks had quit their nomadic ways and retreated to stay in their faraway temples. Her grandmother used to tell her stories about the old days, a time of peace, when airbenders would travel around all four nations without fear. But now...

"I got lost," Aang said. She just stared blankly at him.

"Lost."

An awkward grin. "Uh, really lost?"

She was about to press him further, but reconsidered. Well, maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to pry. A hundred years ago, it was said that having an Air Nomad visit and stay in your village was a sign of good luck... though now they were considered a bad omen.

Everyone had something to hide. She lowered her voice dramatically. "Want to hear a secret?"

Whatever he'd been expecting, it was probably not that. But he perked up anyway. "Sure! I like secret things," and pinched the corner of his lips shut. Katara giggled.

Let's see... how should she do this exactly? She thought it over for a moment, then took off one of her gloves and waved a hand at the permafrost. Immediately a snowball floated up, then melted into a globe of shimmering water.

Aang watched, impressed. "Nice waterben--" he began, but she held up a finger to cut him off.

"Hold your breath."

He gave her a curious look but obeyed, sucking in a ridiculously huge breath of air and puffing out his cheeks like a chipmunk-rabbit. She cupped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing, then followed her own instructions and inhaled deeply as well. This would take some concentration, even if she'd done mild cases of frostbite before. She reached out with both hands to touch Aang's reddened cheeks and nose, almost certain of the fact that her own face was the same color. Just not from exposure to the ice and wind.

The water shimmered and glowed around her open palms. When she pulled away, the blood was already returning to his face, and his eyes widened as he rubbed his cheek experimentally.

"There. Now you won't get hypothermia and we won't have to amputate your nose," she said brightly.

"Whoa." A sniff, then another beaming grin. "That's some good water."

"It's not the water, silly," she let her arms fall to her sides, let the liquid drip from her fingertips. "It's me. I'm a healer. It's a rare ability even for waterbenders, and I'm the only one in my village who has it."

"That sounds amazing!"

She frowned. "It would be, if I knew how to heal more than cuts and bruises and surface wounds. Then, maybe..."

Her mom, lying wrapped in furs and blankets, coughing weakly...

But she shut her eyes against the memory. "I could save lives with this, if only I knew how to."

"Isn't there anyone who could teach you?"

"Everyone here trains in offensive waterbending. That includes me." She couldn't help but smile wryly and cross her arms over her chest in pride. "You're looking at one of the youngest master waterbenders in the Southern Water Tribe. We're good at what we do."

... Maybe a little too good, but he didn't have to know about Hama and her experimentation with new techniques. The admiring expression on his face was flattering enough. "Should I be calling you Sifu Katara?"

"Only if you're studying waterbending under me."

"Oh," his eyebrows furrowed. "Right. Haha." Apparently, it was time for a subject change. He snapped his fingers as something occurred to him. "What about the north pole? There's another water tribe there, right?"

"There is, but," she hesitated, bit at the inside of her cheek a little. "We haven't had contact with them for years, and it's all the way on the other side of the world..."

"I have a flying bison," he pointed out. "Appa and I could personally fly you there."

The idea was pretty tempting. Still... "I don't know if Gran-gran would approve. Or Sokka, I guess. And what if there aren't any healers there, either? I've never left home before. What if we get lost, and something terrible happens--"

"This is the first time I've been out of the Southern Air Temple, too."

She stopped. He was smiling, but it was wistful as he glanced around at the ice floes and penguins and endless snowy landscape, so different from the lonely mountains of the temple. "I know you're scared. I'm just like you, too. None of the monks trust the rest of the world anymore, but I want to believe that things can change. I don't know a lot about the world or life outside the temples, but I do know this: being a bender means letting go of fear."

"I'm not afraid," she said hotly, even as she realized she was lying. He just grinned.

"I know that! You're a waterbending master, I'm the A--aaan airbending master. We could figure something out. Just think it over, okay?"

When it put it that way... she still wasn't entirely convinced. But she had an idea of what her answer might be.

She smiled. "Okay."

"Good! So, uh, in the meantime. Could you show me how to find a polar bear dog now?"

Well, maybe she shouldn't have been surprised the topic would return to this sooner or later. She rolled her eyes, but withdrew a dog whistle from the inside of her parka. "I should warn you, some of them don't exactly like being ridden." Not that that ever stopped her and Sokka before, but she figures she should give a disclaimer anyway. And from the look on Aang's face, he understood completely.

"Yeah, but that's what makes it fun!"

She grinned. "Just thought you should know. Finding a polar bear dog is an ancient and sacred art. Observe."

And she blew hard into the whistle.

Sure, she hadn't done this since she was a kid. But it was like the saying goes. Once you learn how to ride a polar bear dog, you never forget. And in the end... she still was a kid. The world was free and open and still at peace. Maybe, she thought, she should seize the opportunity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> peacetime AU... and an AU where polar bear dogs are a little tamer than in LOK 8)


	2. earth

"Don't fall in love with the traveling girl, she'll leave you broke and broken-hearted..."

They met at the bank of a river. It was, he thought later, actually pretty romantic. Well, it'd be more so if her brother hadn't been hanging around nearby in his underpants, but he'd take what he could get.

"I'm Shu, and my friends' camp is farther back this way." He adjusted the wreath of flowers on his head a little in what he hoped was a jaunty angle. "We're nomads, happy to go wherever the wind takes us," and then strummed a few practice chords on his pipa furiously. Hopefully it wasn't out of tune.

The girl didn't seem impressed. "Right. Well, my brother and I are refugees. We're heading to Ba Sing Se, or... anywhere that's safe from the Fire Nation. So maybe we're kinda like nomads, too."

"You guys are nomads?" Something they had in common! "That's great, I'm a nomad!"

Her brother just rolled his eyes while she giggled helplessly. "I know. You just said that."

"... Oh. Whoops."

But the sound of her laughter was so worth it.

 

...

 

It wasn't an exit. It was a tomb.

He'd never asked the others where he'd came from. As far as he could remember, he'd always been a nomad. He wouldn't want life any other way: wandering the nation, admiring wild animals, singing songs...

Not all of the songs had ended as happily as 'and die'. There were songs of remembrance, songs that Chong hesitated to sing, that made even Moku look solemn, that Lily sometimes murmured softly to herself under her breath as they passed by more and more villages in ashes. Songs of war and cities razed to the ground, of dying families, of orphaned children.

He'd never had to ask where he'd came from, not when he already knew. The Fire Nation showed no mercy to any Earth Kingdom village that didn't surrender to colonization, after all.

"I wonder if they'd ever receive a tomb like this."

He hadn't realized he'd said it aloud, didn't even know who the 'they' he had in mind even was. His parents? His village?

"I don't know," the girl said. For a moment he'd almost forgotten she was there, even when the both of them had to strain for what seemed like hours to get the door open just a few minutes ago. But if anyone knew what he was thinking, it'd be her. She and her brother wouldn't be traveling around the Earth Kingdom looking for refuge without any family to accompany them, unless they didn't have any left.

In the dying light, she tried and failed to maintain an impassive expression. "They'll be remembered in story and song," Shu said, and for a second she looked as if she wanted to smile, before she turned away to examine the rest of the chamber.

Story and song. He followed by her side as she descended the steps and reached out a hand to trace the motifs carved in the stone. A couple kissing. "These must be the two lovers in the legend." Her hand drifted to the calligraphy engravings accompanying the art. "These pictures tell their story."

What could they do?

They read their story by flickering torchlight, fire casting flashing shadows over their faces and the writing on the wall. Almost everyone in the Earth Kingdom knew the song of the two lovers. He wondered how many people knew of the history behind the legend, or even the meaning of the city the tunnel ran under.

This was all his fault. He'd been the one to suggest that they travel together to Ba Sing Se, that they try to bypass the colony of Omashu by using the secret tunnel. If he hadn't done that, maybe the Fire Nation army wouldn't have sealed the labyrinth entrance and trapped them inside. Maybe he and the refugee girl wouldn't have been separated from the rest of the group by that surprise rockslide. Maybe they wouldn't be huddled together under the glow of their last torch, reading the story of war and a doomed love.

But he had believed in love. He'd led her here. And now they were both going to die.

"I'm sorry."

She glanced up suddenly from the mural of the great mountain. "What for?"

"For everything." Wasn't it obvious? The fire sputtered. It wasn't cold, but somehow they'd drawn together, fire and nomads, the last living souls in the stone tomb.

He'd been in fights, in danger before. He'd always managed to scrape by with his quickness and cleverness and pipa. But there was nothing to outrun or outwit or impress with his music now. There was nothing else they could do.

"We're going to run out of light any second now."

She clasped his wrist, tightening her fingers around his in a last gesture of comfort. "I never told you my name, didn't I?"

Everyone had something to hide. And he thought he had an idea of what it would be anyway. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Oma smiled at him. "Thank you."

The fire went out just as their lips met.

 

...

 

He'd believed with all his heart in love as soon as he saw her. There were so many things he'd wanted to do. Like riding giant koi fish, or conducting a groundhog orchestra, or kissing the girl he loved on a romantic balcony at the dying light of sunset. The dying light of their torch would have to work, instead.

There were so many things he wanted to know about her. What her favorite color was, how she got her hair to stay like that, if she would ever know just how easily she took his breath away.

There were so many things he wanted to ask her.

He laced his fingers in with hers. Maybe he could start with one.

"Do you believe in reincarnation?"


	3. fire

It couldn't be more obvious that she didn't belong here, he thought.

"Wait a minute, you're not from the Fire Nation!"

To anyone else, it would be an accusation. To her, it was a proud fact of life. She lifted her chin, cast a glare around the room, at him and all the faces of his other wide-eyed classmates. "That's right. I'm not. I'm from the Southern Water Tribe colony--" and the way she glowered when pronouncing the last word made even Hide flinch-- "so don't forget it."

For a second, even the teacher looked taken aback, and not only by the girl's open hostility. The Southern Water Tribe had finally surrendered to conquest this summer, followed just a few weeks later by their sister city in the north pole. It was to be expected that some of the colonists would begin relocating to the Fire Nation eventually, but nobody really expected a transfer student this soon. Especially not one as bold and outspoken and... angry as this girl.

Finally, the instructor seemed to snap out of her surprise and snapped out her baton against the girl's knuckles. She barely flinched. "How insolent. We won't be tolerant of such rudeness here in the homeland. Learn some manners! Bow to your elders."

Teacher and student stared each other down for a few seconds. He sucked in a breath of anticipation. Nobody had ever really challenged authority like this before. But she wouldn't try to get in too much trouble in her very first day of school, right?

The girl blinked and suddenly it occurred to him that she probably just didn't know how Fire Nation protocol worked. He rubbed the side of his nose as casually as he could, then quickly demonstrated the correct stance for a bow.

Her eyes flickered. She bowed.

"Very well. Now, what is your name? Or should we just call you 'mannerless colony slob'?"

The look she gave the teacher could have wilted a fire lily. "I can introduce myself," and the way she turned to face the classroom somehow commanded more attention than the instructor's baton ever did.

"My name is Katara." She gave the slightest bow of her head, but the look on her face suggested she didn't really mean what she was saying when she continued, "it's nice to meet you."

 

...

 

"Don't try to get on her bad side too much."

She turned sharply at his voice, but her scowl changed into a wary look when she recognized him. "Why do you care?"

"I'm just trying to help." Okay, now that he thought about it, maybe he should actually introduce himself properly before offering advice. He smiled, bowed his head a little to try to pacify her. "My name's Kuzon. I, uh, like your hair loopies." On Ji liked compliments, that was always a good way to make girls smile, right?... And it was a very pretty style.

The corners of her mouth twitched, but then settled into a frown as she reached up to touch one of the red beads in her hair. "Thanks, I guess. The school wasn't too happy that I put it up this way."

"Because it's Water Tribe?"

"Exactly. These beads are supposed to be blue." Her hand dropped back down to her side as if she'd just realized what she had been doing. "But it looks like I can't have that. Just like I can't have my home or my friends or my family, not unless we all moved to the Fire Nation together. Otherwise I'd never be caught dead in your homeland."

He winced at the way she practically spat out the last word. "I'm friends with a lot of kids from the Earth Kingdom colonies, too. I know how you feel... I'm sorry."

"Really? You do?" she whirled on him, nearly making him trip over his own feet backpedaling. "You think you know all about the lives of us colony kids just because you're friends with a few of us? Well, let me make things clear." By now, she was practically nose-to-nose with him. He swallowed hard.

"Um, Katara, everyone's watching..."

She didn't seem to care. She didn't even seem to be ranting at him specifically any more, but at the whole world in general. "When you ever feel like throwing up at the sight of black snow, when everyone in your village is forbidden from bending but Fire Nation troops are still allowed to burn homes down, when the homeland navy ever blackmails your father into joining by using the lives of your mom and grandmother as bargaining chips, THEN you can come back to me and tell me you know how it feels. Otherwise, don't even bother!"

"I--"

But she didn't give him a chance to explain, just turned and left. He rubbed his temples. That... was definitely poor wording on his part.

"I'm such an idiot."

 

...

 

"Why did you interfere? I had him just where I wanted him!"

Somehow, he wasn't very surprised to see her sneak into his detention session. He straightened up, thought about leaning suavely against his broom, but decided not to. It'd probably just fall and he'd faceplant right at her feet, knowing his luck with her. "Hi, Katara."

She ignored him. "On Ji says you do this with every colony kid, so you'd better not have thought I couldn't handle him. Because I could. Is this how you get all the colonials on your side? By acting the big stupid hero when they get bullied?"

Trust On Ji to stick up for him. He smiled, but quickly stopped once he realized what he was doing, just in case he annoyed Katara. "It wasn't an act. I just don't like to see people fighting."

"Says the person who got a detention for getting in one." She frowned. "Mine, to be exact."

"I didn't throw a single punch," he pointed out. "So, actually, I hadn't been fighting at all."

She opened her mouth to reply, but paused as she thought back to the scene that afternoon. Now that he mentioned it, Hide really had been hitting nothing but air.

When she glanced back at him with a suspicious look, all he could do was give a sheepish grin. "I'm kinda a pacifist."

"But you're Fire Nation!"

"Yeah." He looked down at the broom still in his hands, then leaned it against a nearby desk. "We're not all generals and war princes and Fire Lords. I don't even know how to use a sword."

Time to switch tactics. Her hands curled into fists by her side. "Hide tried to use firebending on me. He burned my books! And everyone just looks the other way and lets him get away with it!"

"It's not like we want to, but he's the headmaster's grandson. You can't make him or the teachers too angry or you'll be sent to reform school."

"Reform school?" That didn't sound good.

"They call it that, but they mean the coal mines. It's... not a nice place to be." To say the least.

She stared at him for a moment, then just threw her arms up in frustration. "Oh, that's great. Great dictatorship you've got running here! No wonder everyone's so repressed. You're so scared about being punished that you've all forgotten to stand up for what's right!"

... She had a point. He tried to think of something, anything he could say that would help. "You can borrow my books if you'd like?"

"I don't want your handouts!" If she was a firebender, she'd be breathing smoke. As it was, she just seethed. "I want my home, my family, my freedom! I want to fight back against bullies without worrying about being sent to the mines! That's just..."

She stopped herself.

"We don't like it either, but violence isn't going to solve anything."

"Your people seem to think it does!"

"Not all of us support the war," he said weakly.

"Really? And why not? You've got it made. You get to take over our cities, uproot our lives, destroy our families--"

"The war took my parents," he said. She stopped in her tracks.

"What?"

"They were at the siege of Ba Sing Se." His voice was carefully flat and neutral, but he was looking out the window as if he didn't trust himself to make eye contact. "None of them had a choice, everyone in the Fire Nation army is drafted. That's how the war effort survived for 100 years. And I'm not the only orphan at school, either. I'm probably one of the lucky ones... I still have a grandfather left."

What could she say to that? She took a step forward, and he suddenly seemed very far away.

"I didn't know about that."

"It's fine," but the smile he offered was obviously forced. "I was really young. I don't even remember them at all, so I don't have anything to miss."

Somehow, she wasn't sure if that was worse or not. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. There really wasn't anything to say, even as she wanted to apologize for something she didn't do, for the world they had no control over.

"I know you're angry at us. I can understand why. But everyone in this school... we're the future of the Fire Nation. And a lot of us hate the war, too. We have the power to change things, but we can't do it with anger."

"Do you really think so?" she asked quietly.

"Of course." He finally glanced back in her direction, and his smile this time was just a little more genuine. "Anger isn't the answer. It never is."

 

...

 

"Flameo, Katara!"

She turned, braid flipping over her shoulder and nearly whipping him in the face. He yelped and she grinned, quirking an eyebrow. "Flameo?"

"I'm trying to bring back authentic Fire Nation vocab from 100 years ago." He adjusted the strap of his bookbag, rubbing his head where the tip of her hair had hit him. "What do you think?"

"I think that studying slang wouldn't help your grades in history much. Then again, I don't know what would."

"That hurts."

"The truth does," she teased, and beamed when he laughed.

"Yeah, but this does too." He made a slight face, sticking his tongue out as he pointed to the middle of his forehead. It couldn't be that serious, but she leaned in to take a closer examination anyway.

"Whoops. I guess I don't know my own strength." She thought for a moment. "You could use a headband to cover it up if it gets red."

"I can't, head coverings aren't allowed in class." A helpless shrug, but he brightened up as something occurred to him. "You can tie your hair in a braid now?"

"A girl has her ways." But then she scowled a little. "I haven't been causing trouble, so they're letting it go. But the beads still have to be red, and there're some other traditional water tribe styles they won't let me wear."

He bit the inside of his cheek. It... was probably okay to tell her, right? "There are other ways to express yourself than in school."

"Like through old-timey slang?"

"That was tradition, 100 years ago! Just like your beads are now." He reconsidered. "Kinda. Sure, it sounds funny, but that's what people actually said to each other back before the war started."

She gripped her wrist. "Sounds like it was a happier time."

He glanced over in her direction. Even as she was looking elsewhere and her fingers clenched the cuffs of her uniform... he turned away again. It was hard letting go of anger. But he'd be there to help.

"Do you have anything to do after school tomorrow?"

The look she gave him as briefly incredulous, then skeptical. "I... don't think so. Why?"

"It's a secret," he grinned, and it only widened as she offered a nervous smile in return. "But I promise it'll be fun. You'll get a chance to let your hair down, too."

"Really?" she narrowed her eyes, but the twitching of her lips gave her excitement away. "What about beads?"

"Any color you want!"

"Well, if you put it that way... sure, why not. I like secret things."

"Then you'll love this. Meet me by Azulon's statue when the gong hits seven tomorrow." They passed through the school gates and he gave her a wave as he started towards the music room for band practice. "Stay flaming!"

"Uh, you too, Kuzon."

He flashed a beaming grin before turning on his heel and scampering off. She walked quickly off in the opposite direction and just hoped that her flushed cheeks wouldn't be too noticeable to her classmates in calligraphy.

 

...

 

Whatever it was she had in mind for his secret, it definitely wasn't a cave. He must've seen the skeptical look on her face, but waited to explain until after he showed her inside and watched her eyes widen with wonderment at the candles and music.

"Did you know we're not supposed to dance to the band at school? They want us to march like soldiers, but here--" he swept an arm out to the throng, grinning brightly enough to rival the torches. "Here we can be free to express ourselves!"

She tried to come up with something slightly intelligent to say, anything. But all she could manage was, "Wow." He laughed, at least, then did a double-take as someone called out his name.

"Whoops, I nearly forgot I have a Tsungi solo in this next song," and again he turned to leave, waving a hand in sheepish apology. "Sorry, I'll see you later!"

She barely had time to wish him good luck before he headed off towards the stage and left her free to wander to the table of drinks and snacks while searching for familiar faces and wondering if she'd find any. Was this an invite-only sort of deal? She was Water Tribe, and she'd been allowed in. That meant this couldn't be too exclusive, right?

"Not really," Haru said as he took a sip of lychee punch. "Anyone's welcome here." But then he paused, stroking his growing beard with a thoughtful expression. "Anyone except for Hide, maybe."

"Good." Anyone but the one jerk she'd freeze to the wall in a heartbeat? Sounded fine to her. Having said that, she couldn't help but grin cheekily at Haru over her own glass. "But I'm surprised to see you here, too."

"What?" he looked almost alarmed as he looked himself over, as if he was worried he'd dressed for the wrong occasion. "Why?"

"Because--" she started, then stopped herself. Why did she think that, anyway? Well, besides the obvious.

Because he was from the colonies. For some reason, the thought seemed unfamiliar and awkward to her. If she tried to remember it, she used to divide the whole school, the whole world by nationality. People like Smellerbee and Longshot, who seemed to be part of a wallflower secret society on the far side of the cave, were automatically trustworthy. But then there were people like On Ji, who was persistantly friendly despite Katara's best efforts and the other girl's Fire Nation heritage.

Of course, there were also special cases like Hide, but she got the feeling he would be a moron even if he'd been born Water Tribe. Then again, she wouldn't have thought that a few months ago. When exactly did she stop seeing the world in black and white?

"Katara?"

Oh right, she still had a mustache to answer. She blinked and tried to come up with something fast. "Uh, I didn't think you'd like this kind of music."

Haru gave her a side-eyed look but seemed to be more confused than anything else. "I like it. Kuzon's great with the Tsungi horn, isn't he?"

"Yeah." Her fond smile turned into a giggle. "Even if he always says he's terrible at it."

"Really? Maybe he's just following his girlfriend's lead." He tilted his chin at the co-soloist. "They look pretty good together, don't they?"

... Actually, she'd probably had enough to drink for the night. She stood up. "Do you want to dance?"

And immediately Haru's face brightened. "Now that you mention it, I could show you this one--"

She couldn't quite recall the last time she'd danced, though if she thought back to it she could remember an elegant Water Tribe step her grandmother once taught her. In a way, it was like riding a polar bear dog. You never forgot.

And when she took a look around the cavern, she could see all sorts of her classmates doing all sorts of twists and jumps and flips. It was almost like bending. There were all kinds of different styles. Some of the Earth Kingdom colony kids, for instance, had much more reserved movements than...

She stopped and just stared, curd puff halfway to her mouth. "What exactly IS that kid doing?"

"It's called freestyling." Kuzon suddenly reappeared by her side again, only a little out of breath from his solo, short hair slightly more mussed than usual. "What do you think?"

"He just fell flat on his face!"

"Maybe that's just part of the routine." He took the bean curd puff she offered and popped it into his mouth with a thoughtful look. "Nobody teaches dance in the Fire Nation anymore. Maybe there were more traditional moves 100 years ago, but nobody knows what they are now. We have to start from scratch."

"That's a little sad." He cocked his head to the side, one cheek still puffed from puff, and she smiled. "But inspiring."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yeah," she said, just taking a moment to glance around again. At school, everybody wore uniforms and sat in neat lines and could never speak their minds. Here, they were a mob of color and movement and freedom. "Everyone wants you to march, but you dance instead. It gives people... hope."

"Good," he smiled. "It's supposed to."

The last of the curd puffs ran out just as the band started the next song to cheers from the crowd. She inhaled, almost brought her hand up to the blue beads in her hair before she caught herself again. Her grandmother had always told her they brought out her eyes. She'd worn them specifically for the occasion, too. And he'd been the one to ask her here, after all. Maybe, she thought, she should seize the opportunity.

"Hey, Kuzon."

He turned. She offered her hand, heartbeat thudding loudly in her ears like drums.

But he hesitated. "I don't know, I'm--"

"Terrible at dancing?" she teased, hoping he didn't notice her wavering grin. "That's what you said about your Tsungi playing, too. You were amazing out there. C'mon, I know a few Water Tribe steps, and someone showed me how they do it in the ballrooms of Ba Sing Se--"

"No, it's not that." His gaze flickered briefly back to stage. "I, uh, just think you should know. I have a girlfriend."

She stopped. Even the music seemed to fade away. "You do?"

"Yeah. On Ji." He glanced back at her, his face apologetic. "I should probably wait until she's done with her next song."

Oh.

She hadn't noticed the desperate hope that had been rising up in her chest until it was suddenly replaced by a stinging emptiness. But she swallowed a dry throat and wished her smile didn't falter as much as she thought it did.

"Uh, sure. I mean, that's fine too. Just..." what exactly was she even saying? "I just thought one dance wouldn't be a big deal. You know. As friends."

He looked at her for a few seconds, and she suddenly felt like such an idiot. But when he took her hand with what she imagined was a look of understanding, she realized she could finally breathe again.

"Okay."

Because they were friends. She bit her lip, hoped the flickering of the candles would hide her dark cheeks and her furious blinking back of bitter disappointment. He closed his fingers around hers. Well, she was fine just being friends. Or she would learn to be. On Ji was a great person. Maybe they did look good together after all.

She was fine just being friends. If she told herself that enough times, maybe she could start to believe it.

He led her into the opening steps and she searched for something, anything to say that wouldn't sound as embarrassing aloud as it did in her head. "I like your headband," she said weakly, and when he brightened it was all she could do to quiet her quickening heartbeat.

"Thanks!"

Maybe there would be another time.


	4. air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for violence. it's not too explicit, but it's there.

He could barely breathe.

The smoke was the thick, blinding kind that would choke your lungs and leave a bitter, steely taste on your tongue if you tried to breathe through your mouth. It smelled like melted paint and priceless relics. He didn't have a home, none of them did, but now the closest thing they had to one was burning down to the ground.

There was nothing else they could do except escape. Fire Nation soldiers outnumbered them 30 to one, but even if they hadn't been ambushed, even if they'd been prepared for the attack... well, they still wouldn't have been able to defend against an invasion of this scale. They had no warning at all.

And he just couldn't understand. He had friends in the Fire Nation. They all did. So why?

Airbending helped, just barely. He was a master, but with every gust of wind he threw at the flames, more and more smoke came billowing in to claim the vacuum of clean air that had been opening up behind. After a few minutes of fighting the fire, eyes watering, ears ringing from the screams of falling friends, he knew he had to escape. But he just couldn't leave without her.

He found her running from the bison stables, her glider in hand, hair and robes caked with soot, coughing uncontrollably. There were tracks running down her cheeks as she reached for his hand. "Let's get out of here!"

"I have to get Appa!"

"You can't!" her grip tightened on his sleeve as he started forward to the hall she'd come from. Sparks hissed and snapped all around them, but her voice was so hoarse from dust he could barely make out her words. "The soldiers, they just..."

"They what?"

She turned away, choking on the smog, waving an arm and summoning a wind to clear the air for just a second before the smoke came streaming back in full force. He squeezed her hand. There should have been the roars of bison coming from the chamber, the stampede of angry mothers defending their young, but he couldn't hear anything over the rush of fire and blood pounding in his ears. Maybe they escaped, he thought frantically. They escaped, or--

"They'll be fine," she said in a cracked voice. "I saw... I saw Appa and Oogi fly out through the balcony. They'll be fine, I promise. We have to leave now!"

His eyes watered against the dust. He could feel the ancient temple shuddering under the siege to its supports, could sense the sharp footfalls of soldiers hunting fleeing monks. Hunting _them_. So he stopped fighting her as she reached for his other hand and wrapped their fingers together around the charred wood of her glider.

They made it to an open window just as a helmeted shadow blocked their path. Even as she was staggering from lack of air, she was still able to slam her palm out and send the soldier flying through the glass with a gust of wind. He had to catch her as she nearly collapsed from the effort, while his own lungs were screaming for breath.

There was no time to think or turn back now.

He grabbed her hand in his, tightened their grip on the glider as they ran for the open window together. They pushed off into the dark sky, hoping that the frayed fabric would hold them aloft.

For a few heartstopping seconds, they fell from the temple walls, embers and wind whipping past their clothes even as he desperately tried to angle the glider to catch the breeze. Riding the air had always been second nature to them, but now everything was fire and the ground below seemed so close, too close--

Then a rush of cool wind caught them from below, pulled them out of their headlong fall and into the reach of smoke-blackened clouds. They were airborne. The glider wings had rips and singed holes that snagged on the current, made their flight jerky and erratic. But they were airborne.

The smog closed in around them like a trap. Through the stinging in his eyes he strained to catch sight of the flashes of color that other gliders would paint against the night sky, but couldn't find any. He couldn't see the stars through the smoke, didn't dare look back at the temple, didn't even know which direction they were flying or where they would go besides away from the closest thing to a home they'd ever known.

 

...

 

Her first thought, when she hit the water, was of how cool it felt against her burns.

She'd taken a few fireballs directly to her hands while trying vainly to protect the bison stables. It'd hurt more than she'd thought, but there was no time to linger on the pain, even as her palms chafed against the glider and her sooty fingers sought his when they gripped it together. She had managed to push the burns out of her mind until they slammed into the water and the white-hot fire licking at her hands was finally dulled to a lingering, but still searing ache.

Her second thought was that she couldn't swim.

When she was a child, she loved throwing herself off of the cliffs and spires of the eastern air temple, loved feeling the wind scream in her ears when she finally pulled out of her glider's dive just seconds before she could crash into the ocean. When she grew a little older, she spent plenty of time travelling around the other three nations, even, once, to the Southern Water Tribe. But, somehow, she'd never really done more than skimming the surface of seas and rivers. She'd never learned to swim in between learning to fly, and now that was a mistake she'd never realized until it was too late.

On reflex, she let go of the glider and clawed at the water, but her robes, so elegant and wind-whipped in flight, were now slow and heavy and cumbersome. The silver slice of moon blurred above her, and she tried to reach for it like a low-hanging peach. But for every stroke she attempted to make upward, the water only seemed to drag her down, into the dark depths. Her vision swam, though this time it wasn't from ash and smoke. She couldn't breathe. Air was her element, but she didn't have any now and she couldn't fly her way out.

If she looked to her side, she could see him drifting downwards, as well, eyes completely closed. Did he pass out? She had to help him. Desperately, she strained and kicked to reach him, even as air bubbles spiraled up from around them, shimmering like stars. On impulse, she opened her mouth to call his name, and water muffled her voice and lungs. It was so cool against her hands, but it burned in her throat.

She couldn't breathe, she didn't even know if she would ever get a chance to again. But she had to reach him.

Her hand finally found his and she gripped him like a lifeline. He didn't return the gesture. She tried to grab his shoulders even as her movements were slowed by water and weakness and lack of air, but he didn't open his eyes and the bubbles escaping his lips slipped away and grew steadily smaller, like tiny leaves in the wake of a dying wind.

They would die here. She fought to keep her eyes open, to feel his pulse in his wrist even as her own screamed in her ears and the back of her head.

But maybe drowning here with him would be better than dying back in the burning temple.

His name on the tip of her tongue, she gasped out the last of her air and watched the luminous bubbles struggle upwards even as gravity pulled her down. Ice seemed to solidify in her veins and fingertips. It was so cold. She wondered if this was what dying felt like.

It was so dark. But just as she began to close her eyes, she saw him open his, wide and blank and sightless.

His master's tattoos began to glow. She could only stare in disbelief as he lifted his arms, and the current began to rush around them both. Her hair lashed in her face like it did in a gale while water pushed against her mouth--she clung to his hand, but he didn't seem to notice, and his pupiless gaze didn't flicker.

He gave a flick of his wrist and the current whirling around him began to lift them up. Bending the water, she realized blankly, and then all she could do was just hang on as the aquatic twister picked up in speed. She squinted against the rush. Her lungs burned, but the surface and the moon were only seconds away...

They broke through, the water swirling around their feet in a column that carried them up into the night sky. Her first breath of air was dizzying. She gasped down more in desperate gulps while coughing up water, then choking out his name yet again in a strained whisper. Droplets ran down her cheeks, spiraled around them both from the twister.

Then, as suddenly as it'd been summoned up, the rush of water died down, curling towards the sandy shore to deposit them both on land before coiling back to the depths like a cat-snake returning to its den. She fought to regain her breath even while she crawled weakly over to his side, where he had collapsed. He shuddered against the sand. The pure white glow in his eyes faded and his vision returned.

The otherworldly spirit possessing him disappeared. Her friend had returned to her. She wrapped her arms around him and felt him shivering against her in wracking coughs.

"What did you do?"

He didn't answer. She grasped his shoulders, turned him around to face her, and he looked more tired than she'd ever seen. It was a rather pointless question, actually. No airbender could waterbend, unless...

"Why... why didn't you ever tell me you were the Avatar?"

"Because," he said, his voice cracking, "I never wanted to be."

 

...

 

They'd crashed into the Misty Palms oasis, they found out later, after a restless and dreamless night's sleep on the beach. Air nomads tended to rise early, but it was already noon when he opened his eyes again, wincing as every movement ached and burned. She lay prone beside him, long hair falling over her face and the sand. But she woke when he touched her shoulder, and without a word they rose to leave together.

A long time ago, he'd visited this oasis on a trip across the Earth Kingdom. He must've flown them both here from subconscious memory. In the past, they had both played here together, carefree as the breeze, on the shore. They'd splashed each other with its crystalline waters, climbed the palm trees nearby and hung upside down pretending to be wolfbats.

Now, they didn't spend any time airdrying their robes clean before getting back on the glider. They might've escaped the attack on their home, but the Fire Nation was still hunting them. The world had changed in a single night, and he didn't know what to do.

It used to be that air nomads were welcome with open arms at any village, in any region in the world. He wasn't sure what to expect now that they were on the run. The Earth Kingdom had always been close allies with the Fire Nation, after all. Did they know about the attack?

... They couldn't keep flying forever.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten, and after hours of exhausted flight they landed at a town's gates to beg for food. Then stopped short. There was a notice nailed to the stone, embossed with the Fire Nation emblem.

_All airbender refugees are to be turned in to the Fire Nation army, under pain of death._

He turned away from the sign. She quietly took his hand.

They weren't safe here, but he didn't know where they ever would be, anymore.

 

...

 

She tried to keep being hopeful.

After all, she was a nomad. They didn't need much. The bare ground was their bed, the open sky their home. There were edible plants, if you knew where to find them. And during the colder nights, she could curl up by his side and pretend not to notice when he pulled her closer, tucking his cheek against her hair.

The Earth Kingdom was massive. They could avoid cities and villages and stay safe, even if that meant not knowing what was happening to the world, not knowing if anyone else from the eastern air temple survived, if there were even any other air nomad refugees. She hoped that there were, that they didn't wander into a town to get captured. And she didn't let herself linger on what might happen if they did.

She had more important things to worry about, anyway. Like the fact that she was travelling with the Avatar. If anyone could confront the Fire Nation, it would be him... though it would be a better idea for that to happen after he mastered the elements and fully realized his own destiny. He'd never been able to waterbend before that day, he told her. So, for now, they were making their way down to the Southern Water Tribe to find a proper teacher.

But it was rather slow progress navigating across the continent with no bison and only one glider. And even if he didn't know how exactly to waterbend, that didn't stop him from trying anyway.

She found him that evening meditating before a waterfall, a massive cascade that thundered down from cliffs to crash mercilessly into the rapids below. Mist curled into billowing clouds around him. His robes clung to his thin shoulders. It was getting harder to forage for edible greens, the further south they travelled.

They would have to enter town soon, but she thought they could probably delay that for a while longer, until they reached some of the higher mountain ranges south. The Fire Nation probably wouldn't have contacted the less-accessible alpine tribes. Maybe they would be slightly safer there.

"I'm a little surprised that you're not trying to bend the waterfall."

"I am," he said, without opening his eyes. She hopped across a few of the rocks jutting out of the river to join him on the largest boulder, using a wind-propelled jump to reach the top, where he sat.

"By meditating?"

"I'm trying to focus on my water chakra," he said, finally opening one eye to look in her direction. "It might help me get into the mindset of a waterbender."

She perked up immediately. He rarely talked about his training--apparently his friends in the Southern Air Temple had started to avoid him once they found out he was the Avatar, so she couldn't quite blame him for keeping his identity secret when he was sent to the eastern monastery. And, even if he didn't have a reason to keep things hidden any longer, he still hadn't told her much about these mysterious chakras that had been so vital to his training.

"Water chakra?"

"It's one of the pools of energy that I need to unlock to keep myself in balance." He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes again. "If I can clear all of my chakras, I can control the Avatar state."

She thought back to his blank, unseeing eyes back at the oasis. It had been terrifying, seeing her friend's body be so completely overwhelemed by the Avatar spirit.

But it had saved their lives. If he could actually stay in control while in that state...

"That's amazing," she said.

He didn't reply, but she thought she saw his fingers twitch. She sat down by his side and arranged herself in the lotus position, following his lead. It had been a long time since she had meditated, too. Somehow, she'd never found the time to practice during their travels so far.

Part of her wondered if she could even still do it. When she closed her eyes and was overcome with the searing memory of their temple in flames...

"The water chakra is blocked by guilt," he said in a low voice. "To unlock it, you have to contentrate and remember everything you blame yourself for."

Where could she even start?

She had been in the sky bison stables when the attack began. The smoke seeping through the windows, the embers catching hay bales ablaze... she'd tried her best to herd the disoriented animals out, to make them understand that they had to escape. But the littlest calves still had trouble flying, especially when they couldn't see through the smog. They had been easy targets for the soldiers, even as she'd desperately tried to protect them from the flames...

The older, pair-bonded bison were worse. They'd refused to leave at all, not without their partners, even when they were surely still trapped in the inferno or captured by the Fire Nation army... or worse. Appa had been able to repel almost an entire platoon by himself. But in the end, even he fell, weakened by smoke and lack of air, his tail almost burned entirely through, bellowing continuously for his rider.

For the briefest of moments, she'd thought about taking Oogi and escaping. She was still reined from the day before. If she could just leave the screaming calves, the smell of burnt fur, if she could leave Appa's motionless body on the floor...

But she couldn't, and she did. All she could do was run.

"Where could I even start?" she asked hoarsely, lifting her face to let the wetness from the waterfall's spray run down her cheeks.

"I wish I knew," he said in a hollow voice. "Just like I wish I knew how I activated the Avatar state back at the oasis. Even if I couldn't control it, maybe... if I had been in that state at the temple, I could have..."

Made a difference. Saved the temple. Made it in time to rescue Appa and Oogi. She swallowed down the guilt in her throat.

"If there's anyone you should blame, it's me."

He opened his eyes again, but she couldn't meet his grey gaze. "There's nothing to blame. It's not your fault. Whatever happened, I forgive you."

"You shouldn't," she whispered. "I lied to you. I... I couldn't protect..."

"I forgive you," he repeated, breaking form to touch her wrist. Her hands curled into fists to refrain from grasping his. "You need to learn to forgive yourself."

She struggled to keep her breathing even, to concentrate on meditating even as fire flickered in her mind's eye and ghosts of the dying calves rang in her ears.

In the end, some of the more strategic soldiers came upon the idea of collapsing the pillars holding up the roof. A large column had fallen across Oogi's back. She'd heard a snapping sound, like a branch under a storm.

She'd ridden Oogi almost halfway across the world, during her travels. They'd been inseparable. She could still remember the first day they'd met, when Oogi had barely been a head taller than her, and had trustingly accepted the apple from her cupped, shaking hands.

Her hands were shaking now. She rubbed her temples, then her eyes. "I can't do it."

"It's hard," he said quietly. "I don't know if I can, either."

She looked sharply up. "But you're the Avatar. You'll have to, right?"

Water rained down all around them, running down his arms like rivers, following the path of his chi tattoos. Inanely, she thought back to her airbending training. She'd been only a single form away from receiving her own tattoos, from being a master herself. Now she never would.

"I was being trained under Guru Pathik," he said. "He was a friend of my mentor back at the southern air temple, but... he only taught me four chakras before the day of the attack."

"Only four?" she hesitated. One for each element, wasn't it? "Maybe I would be better at unlocking my air chakra."

His hand moved down to clasp hers, their fingers twining together. "Maybe you would. It's the chakra of love, blocked by grief."

The tears streamed down her face. But when he leaned over to kiss her cheek, she turned instead to meet his lips with her own.

 

...

 

Firelight nearly blinded her when they finally took the bag off of her head. For a moment all she could do was reel and almost fall over, bile rising in her throat. There was a harsh, persistent, pounding ache in the back of her head from where she'd been struck down during the ambush.

Wait, the ambush? She blinked back into awareness, vision sharpening into focus. A statuette of Avatar Yangchen stared back at her. The same one she'd been so desperately questioning the merchant over. And, speaking of...

She paled when the helmeted soldier standing guard by the door turned to show his face. Even he had been in on the trap. Her gaze flickered from relic to priceless relic--stupas, rosaries, elaborate brass horns. They weren't all from the eastern air temple. The others had fallen, too.

There were cold iron manacles on her wrists and ankles, clamped together so tightly that she could barely move, couldn't bend, could only collapse heavily on the floor in front of her as someone roughly kicked her shoulder. She tried weakly to struggle back up, but the boot on her back simply crushed down harder, pushing her face to the dirt. Her eyes watered. The familiar relics, everything she knew and loved from the monastery...

She had really thought that she'd found other airbender refugees. She'd dared to hope that they weren't alone. The small mountain village they'd entered hadn't had any sign of Fire Nation contact, and Yangchen's totem in the market stall had been like a beacon of promise.

It had been her idea to search the mountains nearby for air nomad camps. She'd led them here. If she hadn't been so adamant about finding others, then...

The laughter of the soldiers rang in her ears. They were simply biding their time until their admiral's arrival, and they weren't taking any prisoners today.

She caught sight of a familiar, prone figure lying on the ground by the far side of the room, his arms crisscrossed with the color of bruises and the sky blue of master's tattoos. He groaned and stirred faintly, but when she opened her mouth to call his name, the soldier's boot at her back moved to her neck, and she gasped for air.

An airbender's staff lay on the floor, and another guard bent to pick it up, then slam its length viciously across the back of the Avatar's head.

"Aang!" she screamed, but his eyes fell shut. A soldier jerked on the chain around his neck. She wrenched against her own bonds, sweat dripping from her chin. A weak breeze rippled around her, but she couldn't move her arms and the guard with the staff was quickly approaching, raising the ancient relic over his head.

Two other men were already grabbing Aang's shoulders and dragging his body to the door. They were taking him away from her, they were going to kill him first just because he had his master's tattoos and was a greater threat. And they didn't know he was the Avatar, but it wasn't going to matter.

Maybe the Avatar would appear again, like it did back at the oasis... but he was unconscious and the spirit wouldn't be able to identify the danger of capture from drowning. She couldn't rely on him, and she couldn't save him, and she could never forgive herself.

Tears spilled from her cheeks like waterfall spray, like spring water, like she was back in the inferno and everything she ever knew was going up in flames, down to ashes. The boot moved to her head, ground her face against the floor. She could feel something trickling down the side of her head and the taste of blood rang in her dry mouth.

"Aang," she whispered, and thought she saw his eyelids flicker in the torchlight, in the golden reflections of temple bells.

"I love you."

There was a sharp pain in the back of her head, like lightning or knives. The world faded into the dark.


	5. light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having trouble with the real chapter 5 (sound), but I'll definitely finish it!!... someday!

She met him on the beach, when she'd been taking her friend's white husky out for a walk and had nearly walked right into him instead. Or, more exactly, right on top of him. Naga had took off, barking and leaping at gulls, but when she ran to catch up her foot had sunk into sand and hit resistance and she heard an 'ow!' as someone flailed out from the dunes.

He'd buried himself so that he'd be able to get closer to shorebirds, he explained sheepishly, and then launched into a story of a time he'd been able to lure a gull close enough with breadcrumbs that he'd been able to reach out and touch its wing. "I have a way with animals," he said, and from the way Naga was happily licking his hand, he might actually have a point.

As an apology for stepping on him, she treated them to ice cream as they watched the tides roll in, rippling over the sea strand, chased after by sanderlings. He'd grown up in the blue ridge mountains and taught martial arts in his spare time, whenever he wasn't chasing rare birds or fish. She came from Alaska, but took some time off to the tropical beaches where she could better indulge in her talent for swimming and surfing. Which, now that she mentioned it, reminded him that he knew this amazing secret cove nearby that kemp's ridley sea turtles sometimes visited, and maybe they could go snorkeling sometime...

She left the beach that day with his number scribbled excitedly on a spare receipt for dog food, and a promise to call him on her friend's phone that evening, since she'd dropped her own in the water two days ago. But when she returned to the small apartment she was sharing with her roommate, the paper had somehow disappeared from her pocket. Did it fall out during the bus trip back? Either way, she spent the rest of the evening searching her clothes and bag and room with a kind of frantic depression that even Korra had to tease her about. And to make matters worse, she wouldn't even pay her back for Naga's dog food without the receipt.

She'd went to bed in a state of desperate frustration and dreamed of fish and reefs, of flying through water-like sky. The beach, the following morning, was full of tourists and empty of half-buried bald boys with sunny smiles. Maybe, she thought, it was time to start chasing gulls.

 

...

 

He met her at the pet shop, though he'd been so busy trying to untangle their new baby hognoses from his fingers that he'd nearly missed her until his coworker and partner-in-crime elbowed him to let him know that they actually had a customer for once. When he finally glanced up from his work to help her out, for a moment all he could do was just stare as she looked around at the store uncertainly, then point out that one of the tiny snakes had pooped on his hand.

Okay, so maybe he hadn't made the smoothest first impression, as Bumi's unsubtle snorting laughter suggested, but he was determined to make up for it. Sure, they might be a small shop that housed more shelter animals and local breeders' stock than anything else, but this place was practically his home. He'd never had a customer leave unsatisfied with their new pet. Some of them could be companions for life, after all. It was pretty serious business.

Apparently this new girl had never so much as taken care of a cactus before, but he was up for the challenge. Besides, she went to school nearby and the dorms wouldn't allow dogs and cats, she explained, so starting with something small was fine, too.

So he gave her a little tour. Girls liked small cute things, right? She warmed quickly to the rabbits, where she spent a few minutes scratching Flopsy's lop ears, to Bumi's approval. Turtles were a little iffier... maybe too scraggly for her liking. The colorful koi fish piqued her curiosity again, until she practically had her nose and hands pressed to the glass, her reflection wide-eyed in amazement. Gerbils were last, but she was particularly charmed by a fluffy peach-colored male he'd named Momo, and seeing her grin at the small creature in her cupped hands made him hopeful that his last impression was at least a decent one.

She had a bus to catch, but she thought she had time to watch him feed the birds. He couldn't say he minded, either. It was a good opportunity to let her hold a fledgling cockatiel, to coax a diamond dove to her knuckles, to turn a zebra finch carefully on its back on the palm of his hand and let her pet its downy belly. All of the customers were always impressed by how well he got along with the animals, and she was no different.

"It's like you're a Disney princess," she said, sounding only half-joking as a canary perched on his shaved head.

"Really?" he considered this for a moment. "Which one?"

It was silly, but he hoped it was her favorite.

 

...

 

She met him on the airplane, on her way to a semester abroad in Tibet. It was her school's first year doing an exchange program there and she was honored to have been accepted, but the flight and layover were red-eye and by the time she boarded she was about ready to tear her hair out when she saw that some unenlightened stranger had put their luggage in HER overhead compartment...

Then the cute flight attendant had appeared, like magic, to move the offending baggage and help replace it with hers instead. Sometimes, she thought, it paid to look angry and sleep-deprived.

And, of course, to sit near the emergency exit for extra leg room. It looked as if her seatmate hadn't made it on board, which was fine with her. She wasn't exactly in the mood for conversation, though she was at least awake enough to thank the steward when he stopped by again to offer a cup of ice water. She'd heard that Tibetans were polite to a fault, but, she thought blearily, she really had to wonder if they all had such nice smiles. They'd barely had liftoff when she fell asleep with her cheek pressed to the window, body sprawled over the other empty seat, stars blinking behind her eyelids, and the vague feeling of someone draping a blanket across her shoulders.

She awoke to tremors and someone frantically shaking her shoulder, and for a moment she wasn't sure where she was. The lights were flickering on and off, flashing on the flight attendant's face as he said something that she couldn't quite make out over the screams of the other passengers. But there was a life jacket and oxygen mask in his hands and when she glanced over to the window it took only a second for her to realize that the dark expanse under the plane's pale wing wasn't clouds, but storming ocean.

Another violent shudder ran through the whole plane and she was nearly knocked into the flight attendant's arms. The sleep-deprived part of her mind wondered if she was still dreaming, even when he moved to shield her as they both slammed into the next aisle from the airplane's momentum. Plane crashes were supposed to be rare, weren't they? Statistically, she'd be more likely to get killed in a car accident or even by falling furniture. Maybe she was having a nightmare, she thought as the flight attendant pulled the oxygen mask over her nose. Maybe she'd open her eyes at any moment and still be on her way to Tibet, and he'd be offering her another chilled drink instead of clinging to her as they were wracked by the mercy of the storm.

Maybe...

She could practically hear the metal screaming as the plane plummeted to the sea. For now, she buried her face in his shoulder and hoped she'd wake up soon, even as she knew she wouldn't.


	6. thought

Memories flickered before her like shards of glass or ice, but she couldn't tell which were real or just fragments of her imagination. She reached out tentatively to touch one, but when she looked down at her hand she saw that it was already translucent, ghostly. Maybe this was what it meant to be a spirit.

Someone had asked her, lifetimes ago, if she believed in reincarnation. She couldn't quite remember what kind of answer she'd given. The Avatar was always reborn into multiple lives, wasn't it?... But nobody seemed to be sure whether normal human beings did the same.

It felt like she had. She'd done so much--broken out of jails, surfed over tidal waves, closed her gloved hands around someone's throat--somehow, it felt like a lot, too much to accomplish in just one lifetime.

And one lifetime implied one death, but she could've sworn that she'd died more times than that. She'd drowned at least once, had been stabbed in the back, had been crushed under falling debris, shielded underneath someone's protective embrace. And, maybe, even simply went to sleep one day and just never woke up.

That one sounded familiar, though she didn't know why, and she couldn't remember anything before it. But just having a memory to hold onto helped. The icestorm of images before her eyes thinned somewhat, and she thought she could start to see the cloudy landscape clear and sharpen into focus.

She was standing in the middle of a field of lilies--or the peak of a snow mountain, wind whipping at her hair--or a sandy beach, where gulls hovered in midair like tiny leaves, where she stood ankle-deep in the middle of a rising tide. Her body seemed to be more material, somehow, though the water only occasionally lapped around her heels and only occasionally flowed right through. On impulse, she lifted her hand, reaching out for the sky. Then reconsidered.

What was she trying to do? Grass and snow shifted under the soles of her feet, then shimmered together like an illusion, like a vision created by desert heatwaves. The birds were familiar, too. If she tried to think back further, she thought she could remember the sky, the freedom of being airborne on the wind. She'd dove from cliffs once and trusted her life to the delicate fabric of a glider.

But that was lifetimes ago. The realization hit her like a splash of cold water. Exactly like it, in fact, as the sand beneath her slid away and she fell into the crystalline sea. Bubbles coiled around her, floated before her eyes like memories. She'd died in an ocean before, but she'd been rescued in an oasis and had saved someone's life with spirit water...

She'd saved someone's life and she couldn't really remember whose. But the water was her home. Maybe if she closed her eyes, she could try to concentrate and find the right memory again. Her eyelids fell shut, but she could see something bright, like the sun, still glowing through her veins.

The current rippled around her like feathers. One death ago, she'd been a waterbender, she was certain of it. There was a time she could command an ocean, could make a waterfall flow up against gravity, had even shaped the clouds by his side--whoever 'he' was. She thought she should know. She'd saved his life in so many lifetimes, and failed to in even more. They'd danced together by torchlight, had fought armies together, had swam hand-in-hand in high tide among sea turtles.

Sea turtles? Silhouettes flashed in front of her as the slim shapes of flying fish flickered through the water. Somehow, the memory felt wrong, even as his name lingered on the tip of her tongue. Maybe it was something else. Koi, or... a giant sea serpent? That couldn't be right.

Gulls continued to circle above the water's surface. Gulls? Terns?... Penguins? Her eyes widened, and the memory washed over her like a wave.

She was fourteen and the world was at peace and the future had opened before her like a map. No, that wasn't right either. The world was at war and had been for a hundred years. She'd found him, the last airbender anyone had ever seen in generations. Maybe, back then, she'd had suspicions about who he was, even as the implications of finding him had slipped her mind. But for one day and one gloriously sunny arctic afternoon, they'd just been two kids riding penguins and forgetting the rest of the world.

Remembrance rippled over her. She finally knew who she was again. Her name was Katara. She'd spent her life believing in the Avatar, saving him, fighting the world by his side. They'd stared down death together, they'd trained together in waterfalls and oases and secret rivers. Once, she was willing to kill for him. In a previous life, she probably did.

In this one, he'd been taken from her too soon. She had a good life, she could be proud of Tenzin and Korra and her children, her friends, her family. But despite everything, she remembered looking forward to the day she'd go to sleep and never wake up but to find him again, waiting for her.

She was here now. The water was ebbing. Someone was calling her name through the cascading surface, offering a hand out to her with a familiar, beaming grin.

It had been a long time. Lifetimes, to be exact.

She took his hand.

 

...

 

"Hey, Katara."

She smiled, pulled him closer so that she could properly wrap her arms around him in a welcome-back hug, or a I-missed-you hug, or a shut-up-and-kiss-me-already hug. Any one of them, or all of the above and more.

"Hi, Aang."

She was home.


End file.
